Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Iron Monkey, The (1977)

Also known as: Iron
Monkey, Bloody Monkey Master, The Iron Monkey of Shaolin, School of Shaolin

The Iron Monkey is
a film that always seems to come with the highest of recommendations from kung
fu fans. However, my initial viewing of the film, some ten years ago, wasn’t
one that left a mark on me. It was good, but your standard kung fu flick. So,
it was high time to revisit the film and see if it would have improved over
time, remain in the same echelon, or fall to being one of those overhyped
flicks made popular by the will power of a vocal few. Fortunately, The Iron Monkey is a film that I found
more impressive this time around than I did the first time as it plays its style
loose and straight forward. It is not, however, the instant classic that
belongs in the upper levels of the genre that I find so many fans claiming. If
anything, the film is fun and shows a lot of interesting character depth that
makes it solid watch and if a viewer goes into it with that mindset then The Iron Monkey is a film eager to
please.

Monkey was hot headed and cocky, but when his father and
mother are slaughtered by a vicious general looking to scoop out resistance to
the government he is hardened to stop them. To do this though, he must become a
better fighter and find a way to get close to the general. This road to
vengeance sends him to the Shaolin Temple where he will study the Monkey Fist
and it will also send him onto a road of enlightenment.

"What's the problem? Monkey got your throat?"

The most obvious new element that stood out to me on this
revisit to The Iron Monkey was just
how director and star Chen Kuan-Tai really takes his Shaw Brothers experiences
and brings them to the table here. There are moments where the influences of
Chang Cheh can heavily be felt, particularly in the darker tones that show up
in the first act to give meaning the to the events later on, and the style of
how he shoots the action. For that the film feels like a natural extension
of the style for those who are fans of the Shaw Brothers. In that sense, The Iron
Monkey works to be a charismatic “spin off” if you will and remains highly entertaining.

The style and lessons that Chen Kuan-Tai brings to the table
also allow The Iron Monkey to be a
good balance of entertaining and heartfelt. The film spends a lot of time
developing the main character and his motivations for the film, resulting in
some solid dramatic scenes in the first act, and then it spends most of the
second half focused on the action so fans are going to get a little bit of
both. There are a lot of the iconic kung fu sequences that one expects,
including a brief, but interesting training montage, and one can pull out the
list of tropes and pretty much knock all of the off. The casting is superb in
the film, including the series of villains (punctuated by a snazzy appearance
from Beardy as one of the general’s top fighters) and the film benefits from
this too. Considering the talent, it also helps that the choreography is
decently done and dynamic leading up to a great Monkey vs Eagle Claw style for
the finale that kung fu fanatics will appreciate.

Not even that mustache can steal his Eagle Claw thunder.

However, expanding on the films dramatic and entertaining
balance, The Iron Monkey lacks a
narrative flow and structure to keep that balance firm throughout. As
mentioned, the first act is drama heavy and the final act is almost purely
action (trying to recap the character arc in a tacked on final moment in the
film that needed to be elongated and elaborated) and that can deter some of the
depth that the film has going for it. It makes for a film that does feel ultimately uneven
and that’s part of why it stumbles at being one of the
greats from the genre. All of the pieces are there, but it doesn't quite have the knack for lifting all of them up to that next level.

As is though, The Iron
Monkey is a massively entertaining film and one that showcases Chen
Kuan-Tai’s talents in front of and behind the camera. It tends to be a little
bit too predictable and a tad uneven in its narrative structure, but the film
maintains a spirit and energy to keep the audience hooked and then snags them
with its almost relentlessly well-choreographed action in the third act. Is it
a top tier martial arts flick that so many claim? Perhaps not, but it is still
an impressively solid one that deserves some recognition.

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Osaka Asian Film Festival 2018

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